Irma Upgraded To Category 5 Hurricane With 175 MPH Winds

Hurricane Irma had maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.Photo Credit: National Hurricane CenterProjected path of Hurricane Irma as of Monday afternoon, Sept. 4.Photo Credit: National Hurricane CenterIrma could be a Category 4 hurricane when it nears the East Coast late this week.Photo Credit: AccuWeather.comThe so-called "Spaghetti model" from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts shows a northerly path moving up East Coast for Hurricane Erma.Photo Credit: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

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Residents along the Gulf and East coasts of the United States need to be on alert as a new Category 5 hurricane barrels across the northern Caribbean and toward the United States.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a State of Emergency on Monday as Irma, elevated to Cat 5 status Tuesday, is now centered about 450 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the West Indies. The National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning it had maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour, up from 130 mph on Monday.

Irma is expected to close in on the East Coast late this week. With Harvey hitting Texas late last month, this could be the first time two Cat 4 or Cat 5 hurricanes make landfall in the U.S. in the same hurricane season. (Harvey made landfall as a Cat 4.)

"This hurricane has the potential to be a major event for the East Coast," Evan Myers, expert senior meteorologist and chief operating officer, said. "It also has the potential to significantly strain FEMA and other governmental resources occurring so quickly on the heels of Harvey."

Irma is projected to move to the north of the islands in the eastern Caribbean on a path that could take it to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas and the U.S. East Coast late this week or early next week.

The exact path of Irma beyond the end of the week remains uncertain and will depend on a variety of moving parts in the atmosphere, AccuWeather.com said, noting landfall in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas is all in the realm of possibilities.

It's still also possible Irma could hook northward and miss the East Coast or take a southern track closer to Cuba.

This amount of uncertainty means that the entire southern and eastern U.S. should monitor Irma this week, AccuWeather.com said. Residents along the coast are urged to start preparing and making sure plans are in place to deal with the worst-case scenario. This includes plans on how to evacuate and what is important to bring with you and your family.

"As we saw just 10 days ago with Harvey, it is important to be ready to evacuate," Myers said. "Be prepared with a list of items you would need to take if you had 30 minutes' notice or one hour's notice or six hours or a day to evacuate."